


Entrapment

by Dance_Elle_Dance



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angst, F/M, Puppy Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 07:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4910332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dance_Elle_Dance/pseuds/Dance_Elle_Dance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Primrose Everdeen believes Gale Hawthorne is the most fascinating person she's ever seen. (Originally posted on 10/16/11.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Entrapment

**Author's Note:**

> Re-post. I am quite fond of this pair, for whatever reason. Please enjoy! :)

Prim hasn't been around long, she is aware. She's young, very green, unsure about the world around her and everything that goes on in it. However, she knows that the world isn't a safe place like it should be. She knows that hardships follow everyone in District 12, that they are unable to escape the iron hand of the Capitol. Unable to escape the impending threat of the yearly Games.

Other than those kinds of things, there are others that Prim finds herself hard-pressed to escape.

(She's not sure if she wants to, actually.)

Like this.

She can't believe her misfortune, actually, when all of it begins.

Prim is still young - so, so young that it's almost embarrassing - and not just in the physical sense, but in her simple view of the world. That makes it all the more shocking when she notices it.

Well, notices _him_ , rather.

She's so young and she's not sure what these feelings mean, but she knows that Gale Hawthorne makes her happier than any other person in the world. Besides family and Buttercup, Gale is it.

When he visits Katniss - because it's always Katniss, really - he talks to her. Even when he doesn't seem to have much to say, he'll ramble on about her goat or what she's planning on doing when she gets out of school. (He never mentions the Games around her, though.) She'll smile and give answers and ask questions of her own. What is your favorite thing to do? Hunt ( _with Katniss_ , is the unspoken preposition). What is your favorite color? Blue ( _my eyes are blue,_ she thinks girlishly). Do you really hate my goat? No (which is said with a smile that _takes her breath away_ ).

She finds herself wishing he'd visit more. She isn't sure why at the time, but she looks forward to every day, thinking that he'd visit, that she'd be able to see him. She doesn't think of the looks he gives Katniss, because, frankly, those are too sad to think about. He's obviously in love with her older sister, and Prim sometimes finds that when she thinks about it, she can't stand that thought of it. It makes her feel like a bad sister, like a bad person all around, but she really can't help it.

Prim knows just how many girls think that Gale is attractive. She hears her classmates whisper and giggle over him, saying how lucky her sister is that they are so close. She just smiles and nods, because she, of all people, know just how true that is. Katniss is lucky, and she should be happy, so she forces it.

It's never hard for her to find something to be happy about. There shouldn't be anything to be happy about in District 12, but she finds that some things make her happier than others. Like, when the flowers start to pop up alongside the fence, or when her goat licks her arm, or when Gale graces her with one of his smiles…

A lot of her happy moments involve Gale, she realizes.

She finds herself watching him, and that in itself is a mistake. The more she watches him the more she realizes the little things about him. She sees the strong set of his jaw, the eager glint in his eyes, the passionate way about things that he speaks of, the way the sun sparks off his olive skin, how his teeth are impossibly straight and bright when he smiles, and how the wildness of his hair makes him look akin to one of the animals he hunts on a daily basis.

The more she watches him, the more she realizes that she can't escape him.

He's the forbidden fruit. She's read books about that. The Capitol confiscates some books that they think will instigate rebellion, but some of the ones that they allow are things that talk about love and how certain people are forbidden to be together because of their circumstances, but that just makes them want each other even more.

Childishly, she wishes she could be that temptation for Gale as well.

She knows it won't happen, though. Prim is idealistic, but she isn't a fool. She's not stupid, though sometimes she wishes that would happen. Ignorance is bliss, some people say, but…wouldn't now knowing hurt worse? Because eventually one would have to find out the truth and that would be the worse dagger to take. The fact that she thought one thing and it was wrong. So, so, _so_ wrong.

She digresses.

There is one thing she knows, and that thing would be that Gale Hawthorne is completely, utterly off limits.

And yet she wants _him_.

Even now, that is completely obvious. Prim is shocked that no one else has figured that out yet. She doesn't know how this has been kept a secret for so long, what with Katniss knowing her like the back of her hand, or with Haymitch's strangely perceptive nature. She figures that Haymitch wouldn't out her, though, even if he did know. He's kind to her in that way.

She watches him as he walks about the kitchen, skinning something that he's killed while Katniss washes off in their small bathroom. Even covered in the blood of an animal, his hands are slender and graceful and know what they're doing. Something that would usually make her feel pity for the animal is completely out the door because it's _him_ , and frankly, they need this animal to live.

He turns around, feeling her eyes on him no doubt. "Not so sneaky, Rosie."

Prim crinkles her nose at the unwanted nickname. It's not _her_ and she knows he knows it, but he just loves to annoy her like that.

"Wanna help?" he asks, and a grin creases his face. The very sight of it causes her heart to seize up as if he has just pulled it from her chest, an interesting mimicry of what he's just done with the turkey at the table.

"I'll pass."

"Suit yourself." He gives her a barely discernable wink and turns back to what he's doing when Katniss comes back into the kitchen. Their mother is in the living room with a patient that Prim feels the urge to help with, but she can't help but stay in the kitchen with the dead turkey and the man that loves her sister.

Katniss goes to help Gale and Prim is left to watch.

She can only watch their easy camaraderie, the way that they move around each other, as silent as the night around them, and how he can elicit the faintest of smiles from her that many guys have tried - and failed - to do. Prim watches all of this, and her heart _aches_.

Minutes later, the turkey is cooked, along with various other things, and everyone - including Mrs. Hawthorne, Rory, Posy, and Vick - come around to eat. They all sit on the floor and enjoy the meal that had been prepared for them. These rare group gatherings are hard to come by, so Prim enjoys them when she can.

She enjoys it especially when Gale seats himself beside her and sparks up a conversation. Katniss is talking to Mrs. Hawthorne and playing with Posy. She's surprisingly good with children. Prim watches her sister for a moment before turning to Gale, whose eyes are only on her. Prim feels her face flush as he starts to chatter on. Moments like these, when they are outside of school and Gale has his guard down, are the moments that she cherishes the most.

And she watches how Gale talks, watches how he jokes around. She finds that her heart feels light, like a bird taking flight.

Despite all the hurt that loving him causes, Prim wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world.


End file.
